Drowning in a sea of revellers

More than 400 pubs and clubs are open in the West End after 1am, turning the area into a sea of drunken revellers and a waking nightmare for residents.

Westminster has 391 venues that are licensed after 1am. Camden, which is responsible for Covent Garden and the area around Shaftesbury Avenue and Tottenham Court Road, has a further 20 late-night licensed clubs.

Last month, the Evening Standard spent a night on the streets of central London and witnessed blatant trading in illegal drugs, under-age vice and late-night drinking while police stood only yards away.

Many bars kept on trading long after 11am, and those with late licences - under which alcohol is meant to be sold only in conjunction with food or "music and dancing" - stayed open while officers turned a blind eye.

"Those places are not our priority," one officer said. "In order to prove they are breaking the law, we'd have to establish they are serving drinks without food, and that is too draining on our manpower."

Residents have gone to great lengths to escape the noise. One used to wheel her disabled husband into the bathroom to allow him to sleep. Journalist John Torode, who has lived in Soho two-and-a half years, said residents were typically disturbed twice a night - when the pubs closed at 11pm and when the clubs closed at 3am. "We're in danger of letting the revellers swamp us."

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